Mini Law Lesson

How the FTC Wants You to to Fix Your Shopping App

Brian Heidelberger bheidelb@winston.com

Twitter @briheidelbergerInfo @ www.winston.com/bheidelberger

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

• I am not your attorney.

• This is not legal advice.

2

What Apps Are Covered?

• Compare prices,

• Collect and redeem deals, or

• Pay for purchases while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores.

3

What Is FTC Concerned About?

• Pre-download information describing how the apps

Deal with fraudulent or unauthorized transactions, billing errors, or other payment-related disputes

• FTC found few providing info

Handle consumer data

• FTC found info provided was too vague

4

When Offering Payment Functionality

• Provide pre-download information on

consumers’ rights and liability limits for unauthorized, fraudulent, or erroneous transactions

Federal credit card protections generally do not apply to purchases involving prepaid, gift, or stored value accounts

Consumers should know

• whether they are liable for unauthorized transactions

• What protections are in place

• What procedures there are for resolving disputes

5

Info on Collecting, Using and Sharing Data

• Most apps had privacy policies, but …

Used vague terms

• to “enhance” or “improve” users’ shopping experiences

Reserved broad rights

• almost all of the policies then used vague language that reserved broad rights to share consumers’ data

May not be evaluating whether they have a business need for the data they are collecting

6

Security Practices

• Strong data security promises need to translate into strong data security practices

• Must honor any commitments they make about the security they provide.

7

Follow me on Twitter

@BriHeidelberger

8

More Mini Law Lessons

youtube.com/AdAge.com

&

youtube.com/BrianHeidelberger

9